Thursday, October 18, 2007

Nicholas Burns on America's Strategic Opportunity With India

oct 18th, 2007

the ever-enthusiastic ram narayan forwarded it to me.

here's my take on it. an indo-us relationship is actually good for both parties, but any deal has to be on a quid pro quo basis. the problem with the deal as it stands now is that america gains a lot more than india does. that's not a good basis to go forward on. those who have studied their game theory know that if it's a multi-iteration prisoners-dilemma game (which pretty much this is) then it is best to cooperate rather than screw the other party. americans will come around to that realization and then we can renegotiate this deal without any 'friends of america' like manmohan singh and k subrahmanyam involved.

up until that point, all sweet-talking by nicholas burns and chums is worth exactly nothing. but indian politicians are easily taken in by flattery. i wish we had the valiant george fernandes around who would say, "burns baby, very nice indeed. but all your praise and 50 cents will get me a cup of coffee. no dice, go back and redo the deal".

the other point is that nuclear fission is not the best thing anyway. it's best to put the money into fast breeder, solar, and other new technology. energize the innovators in india, of which there are many (see that iim a professor's grass-roots innovation lab).

the strategy part will not go away. india is gaining strength vis-a-vis the us and so they'll need the strategic partnership going forward as well. it's like that old birbal story about the waxing and waning moon. the us is waning and india is waxing.

yeah, burns, yadda yadda yadda. don't you get tired of talking out of both sides of your mouth? you are the same guys who are propping up old mushy baby.

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ram Narayanan

Dear Rajeev Srinivasan:

In a seminal article titled, "America's Strategic Opportunity With India: The New U.S.-India Partnership" in FOREIGN AFFAIRS Magazine of November/December 2007, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R Nicholas Burns says:

"The rise of a new U.S.-India strategic partnership over the last two decades is one of the most significant and positive developments in international politics. If the old U.S.-India relationship could barely lift anchor, the new one has clearly set sail. Today there is more of a strategic upside to our relationship with India than there is with any other major power. Our great opportunity and challenge is what we do with it and how we put it to work to serve our hopes for global security and peace. Indians and Americans have a unique opportunity over the next generation to rewrite history as it ought to have been written in the first place: the world's oldest democracy will finally count the world's largest as one of its closest partners. By reaching out to India, we have made the bet that the planet's future lies in pluralism, democracy, and market economics rather than in intolerance, despotism, and state planning. Sixty years ago, our countries failed to chart a common course. Sixty years from now, no one will be able to accuse us of making the same mistake twice."